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| Pursued |
There you are, waiting for the “The Chief” [party selects someone] to make the break and get a chance at freedom. This escape attempt had been in the works for over a year now. All except one of you are in position. Even if you have to leave “The Quiet”[party selects someone] behind, you know that you can pull this off, hell you rehearsed it 22 times now, it will go-off without a hitch says “The Planner”[party selects someone]. The Quiet only needs to do one or two things to get the dwarf “Tang”, today’s water bearer, to switch positions with him. The choices are to take care of him in the most humiliating fashion or murder him.
This serious desire for freedom all started after diggers found Zugg’s Gullstones, a name given for a time in the God Era when a slave force of Zuggtmoy was put to work in mines surrounded by the stuff. This caused many to perish, but others to mutate into the first fomorians. The slaves got to calling these rocks Zugg's Gallstones, or at least that is the tale spun by “The Brain”[party selects someone]. After finding this stuff a pond was drained and then its spring was damned. This was done with some trepidation since once that stuff was left to dry, if The Brain’s story is true then miners are going to die or be contorted into something hideous looking. One of your present crew was so bold as to stand out and contest “Ole Stunty’s” (the goblin mining master) order. This back talk was not something his enforcer, a deformed cyclopean-looking war troll named Naxor, was to let go, so on the nod of Old Stunty, the troll severed off the arm of “The Tool” [party selects someone]. The Tool would have died if not for the healing herbs and skills of “The Hand” [party selects someone]. The Tool was saved, though armless he would be useless as far as the slave masters were concerned. You were not benched until some cooking or cleaning job opens up. Most likely he would be armed and send forward as cannon fodder in a wave attack against the Mizagûm. Luckily, “The Tinker”[party selects someone] called upon a close contact at Brachypelma to patch him up.
Singing then begins from up the southeast passage as you swing your pickaxes into the precious rock seams. This is it, the signal that The Quiet made whatever choice needed to join the escape. With one great blow, the Chief smashes a dam engineered for an easy break. Water gushes into the chamber, with each of you stepping up into hidden grooves and footsteps and making your way for the broken dam. The neogi overseer tries to signal the alarm, but is swept down the passage along with other hapless miners. The south passage is above the torrent of water. Miners run down to gawk at the escape artists. One even jumps in and with powerful strokes makes it to the last of your group, grabbing onto their leg[party determines who is the last in the line]. The rest of you head north bolting up a draining passage.
